Yehezkiel 23:4

23:4 Oholah was the name of the older and Oholibah ¹  the name of her younger sister. They became mine, and gave birth to sons and daughters. ²  Oholah is Samaria and Oholibah is Jerusalem.

Yehezkiel 16:20-21

16:20 “‘You took your sons and your daughters whom you bore to me and you sacrificed them ³  as food for the idols to eat. As if your prostitution not enough, 16:21 you slaughtered my children and sacrificed them to the idols. ⁴ 

Yehezkiel 16:36

16:36 This is what the sovereign Lord says: Because your lust ⁵  was poured out and your nakedness was uncovered in your prostitution with your lovers, and because of all your detestable idols, and because of the blood of your children you have given to them,

Yehezkiel 16:45

16:45 You are the daughter of your mother, who detested her husband and her sons, and you are the sister of your sisters who detested their husbands and their sons. Your mother was a Hittite and your father an Amorite.

Yehezkiel 20:26

20:26 I declared them to be defiled because of their sacrifices ⁶  – they caused all their first born to pass through the fire ⁷  – so that I would devastate them, so that they will know that I am the Lord.’ ⁸ 

Yehezkiel 20:31

20:31 When you present your sacrifices ⁹  – when you make your sons pass through the fire – you defile yourselves with all your idols to this very day. Will I allow you to seek me, ¹⁰  O house of Israel? As surely as I live, declares the sovereign Lord, I will not allow you to seek me! ¹¹ 

[23:4]  ¹ tn The names Oholah and Oholibah are both derived from the word meaning “tent.” The meaning of Oholah is “her tent,” while Oholibah means “my tent is in her.”

[23:4]  ² sn In this allegory the Lord is depicted as being the husband of two wives. The OT law prohibited a man from marrying sisters (Lev 18:18), but the practice is attested in the OT (cf. Jacob). The metaphor is utilized here for illustrative purposes and does not mean that the Lord condoned such a practice or bigamy in general.

[16:20]  ³ sn The sacrifice of children was prohibited in Lev 18:21; 20:2; Deut 12:31; 18:10.

[16:21]  ⁴ tn Heb “and you gave them, by passing them through to them.” Some believe this alludes to the pagan practice of making children pass through the fire.

[16:36]  ⁵ tn The Hebrew word occurs only here in the OT.

[20:26]  ⁶ tn Or “gifts.”

[20:26]  ⁷ sn This act is prohibited in Deut 12:29-31 and Jer 7:31; 19:5; 32:35. See also 2 Kgs 21:6; 23:10. This custom indicates that the laws the Israelites were following were the disastrous laws of pagan nations (see Ezek 16:20-21).

[20:26]  ⁸ sn God sometimes punishes sin by inciting the sinner to sin even more, as the biblical examples of divine hardening and deceit make clear. See Robert B. Chisholm, Jr., “Divine Hardening in the Old Testament,” BSac 153 (1996): 410-34; idem, “Does God Deceive?” BSac 155 (1998): 11-28. For other instances where the Lord causes individuals to act unwisely or even sinfully as punishment for sin, see 1 Sam 2:25; 2 Sam 17:14; 1 Kgs 12:15; 2 Chr 25:20.

[20:31]  ⁹ tn Or “gifts.”

[20:31]  ¹⁰ tn Or “Will I reveal myself to you?”

[20:31]  ¹¹ tn Or “I will not reveal myself to you.”